Job Introduction

This role sits in Route Services, a business area that has been created to supply services to the routes in the safest, most cost-efficient, and effective way, enabling them to benefit from economies of scale and optimised national resources.

The Telecom Service team is responsible for operating all NRT’s telecoms assets and networks. This responsibility includes handling asset life cycles as well as the development, delivery and support of outstanding telecommunication networks and services.

NRT transports data between A and B enabling Network Rail to run operationally both on the railway (signalling, customer information systems, CCTV cameras etc.) and as a business (desk phones, mobile devices, data connections etc.). NRT is also playing a key role in the realisation of our digital railway aspiration which requires huge amounts of data to be handled securely for it to work.

The successful candidate will be working within a small team of engineers responsible for providing tier three technical escalation for the support of Network Rails Voice Switching Network.  This consists of 50,000+ endpoints across the country, using a mix of Mitel MX-One, Northgate Call touch, Redbox, Cisco CUCM, Mitel Solidus Contact Centre.

The teams core activities include operations and maintenance to improve the service availability and reliability. Support introduction of new technologies and services, working closely with our design and engineering team, supporting the validation process through our reference laboratory. Providing 24/7 on call support for escalation via our Network Management Centre (NMC). Acting as technical lead on major voice incidents and managing the interface into the vendor to gain support as required to resolve the incident.

• Supporting project delivery requiring provisioning of voice designs whilst protecting the operational railway.
• Managing our trouble ticket queues to satisfactory closure within the agreed SLA.
• Supporting the NMC tier 2 teams to improve their technical capability.

Main Responsibility

To identify and resolve complex network- and service-affecting faults and issues relating to Voice and deliver proactive support to maximise Voice service availability.

What will you be doing?

• Diagnose and formulate resolutions to complex incidents and collaborate with all necessary support teams in order to restore service within Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and minimise the impact to the customer.
• Provide regular updates on the ticketing system with all actions taken in the resolution of assigned complex incidents, in order to facilitate updates to the customer and track incidents through to resolution.
• Collaborate with relevant teams across all functions and participate in troubleshooting efforts between departments and vendors, in order to co-ordinate and implement effective service restoration and maximise service availability.
• Contribute to the planning and implementation of preventative maintenance of systems, including performing activities such as monitoring, troubleshooting, backup & restore to improve system/application performance and minimise outages to the Voice services.
• Review, accept and perform modifications or enhancements to the technology sub-system hardware and software, using agreed Methods of Procedure (MOPs) so that systems can be maintained.
• Produce and maintain documented operational procedures for all network environments and in-scope applications to enable new services to be introduced into maintenance.
• Perform the recovery of the systems and applications during a disaster recovery (DR) invocation and regularly test scenarios related to the DR procedure to restore service with minimal impact on service availability and customer experience.
• Create training and knowledge documentation and deliver knowledge transfer sessions for ongoing support to the Network Management Centre (NMC) to improve capabilities.
• Provide operational technical input to project and change related activities within the technical discipline of Voice, in order to deliver a service that is operational and maintainable.
• Provide an escalation point for the Network Management Centre, as part of a 24/7 operation, to perform the duties of the Technical Lead within the technical discipline of Voice during major incidents, in order to develop a clear restoration plan and mitigate the risk to service availability.

The Ideal Candidate

Essential

•          Have significant experience and working knowledge of :-

Private Automatic Branch Exchange’s

TDM & SIP Voice Signalling Protocols

Demonstrable experience of

Good IT skills and IP networking

•           Excellent communication, interpersonal and report writing skills

•           Voice experience with Mitel MX-One Telephony Server/switch, Mitel Solidus eCare,

Redbox Voice Recorders, Cisco CUCM, including Network Management Systems

•           Able to accept into service and support new voice technologies implemented through NR projects.  

•           Educated to degree level or equivalent in an engineering/technical discipline involving networks & communications, or able to demonstrate equivalent competence in the field of Voice.

•           Ability to maintain and update the relevant technology competencies

•           Substantial Voice Network engineering or operations experience.

•           A detailed understanding of the operations and maintenance of Voice assets.

•           A sound knowledge of the relevant technical, safety and performance standards.

•           Demonstrable excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.

•           Experience leading technical investigation.

•           Understands operational risks and familiar with risk mitigation techniques

Desirable

• Understanding and experience of railway infrastructure maintenance
• Experience of undertaking engineering assurance activities and competence assessments
• Experience in vendor engagement / management.
• Knowledge of the ITIL Service Management lifecycle and the frameworks.
• Accreditation from a professional body such as Institute of Engineering and Technology.
• Able and willing to contribute to a standby / call out roster if required.
• Holds (or able to obtain) a valid UK driving licence and willing to regularly travel nationally.

We are committed to a diverse workplace enriched with representation from diverse cultures, backgrounds and skills. We pride ourselves on creating an environment where difference is embraced, and individuals can thrive. We recognise that the success of the team is dependent on a multi-cultural, multi-disciplined group of individuals, aligned to deliver successful solutions.

At Network Rail, we have several employee networks to reflect our diverse population and help to raise issues to the wider workforce and support their membership and support our Everybody Matters strategy, led by our central Diversity & Inclusion team. In IT Services, we have a group of Diversity & Inclusion Champions who take part and lead on many activities, to drive through more initiatives to support an inclusive environment for all its people and promote a professional and positive working environment. For more information on D&I at Network Rail, please follow this link

Package Description

Vacancy type: Permanent

Location: Doncaster, with the potential to also be based from York (Please note this role is advertised in both locations, however there is only one position available). 

Closing date: 24th January 2024 

Band & Salary: Band 4C - £43,588 - £49,037

We’re an organisation where people matter. We matter to millions.

We offer excellent benefits, including:

• Flexible working patterns such as working from home and working compressed hours
• Agile working policy
• A range of pension schemes
• Healthcare Scheme
• Rail and underground season ticket subsidies up to 75%
• 28 days annual leave, plus bank holidays and volunteering days (5 days)
• 2 weeks paid reserve leave for our Armed Forces community
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• GymPass – Access to gyms across the UK
• Access to ‘My Benefits’ portal which include discounts in food, technology, and experience days

About the Company

We’re an organisation where people matter. We matter to millions. 

Our role is to run a safe, reliable and efficient railway, serving customers and communities. We exist to get people and goods where they need to be and to support our country’s economic prosperity. Safety is our number one priority.  We're undertaking an ambitious change. Our vision is Putting Passengers First - becoming a company that is on the side of passengers and freight users. As one of the UK’s leading equal opportunities employers, our values and the way we behave is important to us and we have created an environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution. We have seven employee networks that provide fantastic support, opportunities and development for applicants from all backgrounds. Click here for more information 

Our Drugs and Alcohol Standard is changing as of 16.01.2023. All prospective candidates who have not been offered a conditional role by 16.01.2023 will be required to undergo and pass a drugs and alcohol test. Your application will be rescinded if you record a positive test. All positive drugs and alcohol test results for prospective candidates will be securely held on Sentinel database and a 5 year suspension from applying for a safety critical role, a role which requires PTS certification or a Key Safety role on Network Rail Managed Infrastructure will be enforced.

Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd